tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post1986149453943515012..comments2022-04-30T05:44:38.153-05:00Comments on <a href="http://www.peguy.net">Cahiers Péguy</a>: How did we get here? How do we move forward?clairityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13138008687608851660noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-71143927295039185902007-12-06T00:05:00.000-06:002007-12-06T00:05:00.000-06:00I could complain, but I'll just say that as someon...I could complain, but I'll just say that as someone who's co-teaching 7th grade Confirmation this year, I want something more. I want a setting in which the faith is more than a merely religious concept or emotion, and where the students are willing to commit to verifying what is discussed. I think that the classes do some good, but by themselves are not really up to the task.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01262662173303042998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-19437370485227212792007-12-05T17:41:00.000-06:002007-12-05T17:41:00.000-06:00Hi Marie,I would be very pleased to have Confirmat...Hi Marie,<BR/><BR/>I would be very pleased to have Confirmation a lot earlier than we typically see it in this country. I would love to see the emphasis more on the grace than on the adult decision, which is more of a Protestant idea. <BR/><BR/>In our diocese, Confirmation takes place in junior year of high school. I don't think it's necessarily helpful to have parents sitting side by side with their older teens in the classroom, as I would suggest for the younger grades. Of course parents should be involved, but I was talking about the younger children and a radically different format from the current drop-off method with families neglecting even the minimum commitment of weekly Mass.<BR/><BR/>Sharonclairityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13138008687608851660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-22139995993515955402007-12-05T12:46:00.000-06:002007-12-05T12:46:00.000-06:00I'd be very interested, Sharon, in reading the tal...I'd be very interested, Sharon, in reading the talk you mentioned about communicating the faith in family.<BR/><BR/>Why would it be counter-productive to have parents involved in confirmation prep? In our diocese we just moved to confirmation along with FHC in 2nd grade. So we are moving away from the idea that Confirmation is about "adulthood" (if that's what you are meaning to say, that what Confirmation prep is about an adult choice for the Faith, and therefore should be done independent of parents? I know that is a common cultural understanding, but I don't see that that summarizes the heart of the Church on the matter...)<BR/><BR/>I do have some larger thoughts on the matter; perhaps I should make it a seperate post.Mariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04500724701139176293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-49007073700038987472007-12-05T04:45:00.000-06:002007-12-05T04:45:00.000-06:00I think the problem with catechesis is the same on...I think the problem with catechesis is the same one that the movement recognizes in particular for the diakonia, that you have to be living an experience for yourself before you can communicate anything.<BR/><BR/>Fr. Giussani has a talk about communicating faith in the family, it's around here somewhere. What he says in essence is that if faith never touches your family life aside from church activities, e.g. if it never comes into play in a political discussion at the dinner table, or in any of a hundred other ways, your children will not retain their faith. Even Fr. Giussani's then agnostic father communicated the faith when he told his children Jesus' parables to raise their sensitivity to the poor, because that was the part his father embraced himself.<BR/><BR/>Conversely, if faith is truly communicated, in the sense that it is actually very important to parents and seen as such day by day, then even teen/adult children who are away from the church will have to continue to wrestle with their heritage.<BR/><BR/>As for religious education classes, except in the case of confirmation which would be counterproductive<BR/>, I would require families to participate. It is rarely done but I have seen it is quite effective for parents and their children. I blogged on this a few months ago: http://clairitys-place.blogspot.com/2007/09/catechesis-for-family.htmlclairityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13138008687608851660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-1232973183360343662007-12-04T16:48:00.000-06:002007-12-04T16:48:00.000-06:00It seems to me that the attempt to fill up free ti...It seems to me that the attempt to fill up free time with activities (or to use free time for resume building activities) is an attempt to squash desire. The opposite is my problem, tending toward a passive vegetative free time. Vacations are the ideal, with organized, orchestrated free time: with time for beauty, for play, for prayer, and even rest.<BR/>*<BR/>What I would give for two or three parents in the parish who recognize the problem of catechesis!Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01262662173303042998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-75110006326708099192007-12-04T07:00:00.000-06:002007-12-04T07:00:00.000-06:00Yes, you're right. And how we use our free time m...Yes, you're right. And how we use our free time means everything. I'm a little at a loss to make statements about this particular sociological reality, though, since my particular cultural context (at the moment) is atypical. But what I recall of the way family life is lived among Catholics in my past neighborhoods is that leisure time was not very "leisure" -- but instead crammed with commitments -- to children's sports activities, social lives, or other activities (I, too, live this type of life, so I am not pointing fingers). In every neighborhood where I've lived during the past decades of my adulthood, parents seem "atomized" and over-extended, whether they work long hours out of the home or are able to spend more hours "on" the kids (rather than "with" them). I've also noticed (I'm not describing any kind of systematic study -- all my experience is anecdotal in nature -- and therefore open to falsehood) that many church-going Catholic parents seem to be deeply ignorant of fundamental dimensions and details of Christianity, and feeling at a loss, they place all their hope for the religious formation of their children on parish programs. It seems to me that for many, many Catholic parents (and thus for their children), God is a very unreliable errand boy, whom they turn to when every other effort fails, with little trust that he will carry out their politely worded demands. Parents have the first responsibility to educate their children, but adults who know the Truth have a responsibility to the whole of reality. We have experienced more than one generation of ineffectual catechesis, now, and the results seem plain to me.Suzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11951438226869811270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1361014580076478425.post-23778302994741433542007-12-04T00:17:00.000-06:002007-12-04T00:17:00.000-06:00With the increased leisure of the present day, par...With the increased leisure of the present day, parents have the opportunity to spend more time with kids, and to supplement whatever they get through official channels.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01262662173303042998noreply@blogger.com